Painful Memories
by KitaKaze
Summary: Memories are painful. Allen knows from the 14th's memories. Aislin, a new exorcist, is afraid of her past. Her past catches up with her when she meets her old friends. To help her, Allen must let his future come to him. Better summary inside.
1. Prologue

This was an idea I had a while back over at Cafana's house. I ended up stealing her computer and typed until 2 in the morning. My eyes still hurt... It's my first story here. :D Criticism and feedback is perfectly okay!

**Summary**: Memories are painful. Allen knows from the 14th's memories. Aislin, a new exorcist, is afraid of her past. She agrees to join them because she thinks she can find her friends. When she does, the truth is cruel and awakens many painful memories- many of which aren't her own. The past catches up with her and calls her all-too-dark future. To help her, Allen must let his future come to him. AllenxOC

"words"- normal speaking

_Thoughts- _the character's thoughts

Um... Yeah... DISCLAIMER TIME! Because we all love those. :D

**Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-Man, just my OC.**

**Prologue **

No one seemed to notice the odd man who stood out in the streets. I couldn't help but stare. Everyone was going about their usual business, so busy, but not him. He stood still, eyes nervously glancing back and forth. For some odd reason, this one man seemed familiar to me. Why didn't anyone else notice him?!

His eyes landed on me. At first, he walked slowly, but soon broke into long strides. And then I recognized him.

Matthias Walters, age 27. He had disappeared almost a month ago after the death of his girlfriend. He had once been a very respectable man until he was finally driven insane. He had vanished. He was back and heading right for me.

I turned and started walking like I had something to do. My hand lay on the deck of cards in my coat pocket. Cards would do nothing to help me, but it was reassuring to have some kind of memento of my life. Screams sounded in the air. At first, I didn't want to look. I turned anyway, mentally cursing myself for being so stupid as to do so.

A machine-like-ball thing stood where I had last seen Matthias. It was shooting out these odd red bullets. One narrowly missed my head and drove into the wall. It was all just so...weird. I felt detached from the whole thing. That is, until one of those red bullets hit a lady who was trying to flee. At first, I saw nothing but a huge hole where the bullet had gone through her body. Then her skin turned red and she turned to dust. Only the clothes remained. A cloud rose up. I gagged. That had to be the most disgusting thing I had ever seen. A deep desire to destroy the thing filled me, but I didn't know how. I had no weapons on me.

Something was vibrating slightly against my side. I searched through my pockets frantically before the thing noticed I was still alive. My hand touched the deck of cards that was tied with a cord. My deck. It was the source of the vibrations. I pulled it out. The whirring grew louder. I looked up and saw the machine-thing coming towards me. It had found me. Fingers trembling from fear, I tried to untie the deck. I couldn't. Suddenly all of its guns were trained on me. Fear paralyzed me. My mind told me to run. My body wouldn't respond.

It fired. I flung up my hands to protect myself. It would've done no good, naturally, because of the lady I had seen who had just turned to dust and vanished.

Nothing hit me. I lowered my arms to see cards surrounding me- my cards, just bigger, about my size. I reached out to touch them. It was real. The deck was no longer in my hands. Eventually I understood that I had to fight with these. The machine was becoming annoyed. I flung my arm out in its direction.

"Do whatever that needs to be done to destroy that thing!" I yelled. As if it were telling me what to do, I knew which move could destroy it. There were a few, but I only needed one. "Three of a kind! Cutting Wind!"

Three cards detached from the rest and broke into small pieces. It whirled around and around until it finally whipped itself around the machine. It was truly a cutting wind. The tiny pieces were miniature blades. It exploded. The cards returned to normal size and settled into the palm of my hand. I stared at them in shock. What had my cards done? They acted of their own accord and attacked the thing threatening my life. No, they acted off of my wishes. I wanted it destroyed, to vanish, to have whatever was possessing Matthias gone. Now nothing was left of Matthias.

I wanted to learn more of what those machines were and why the cards in my hands could destroy it. Lucian had given me these cards. At the time, nothing had seemed wrong with them. Now they were a weapon.

My weapon.

The world was not as peaceful as it seemed, and I was determined to find out why.

* * *

So, how was it? Constructice criticism and stuff like that allowed. If you give me flames, it'll be given to my best friend who will use it for her own purposes (I'm not asking what they're for). Please wait patiently for chapter 2!


	2. Lucius

Wheee! I'm on a freakin' roll! XD Screw the fact my English report's due next week! I'm almost done with it, and I can relax! YES!

Ahem… Excuse that. I'm a bit hyper for 5:30 in the morning. ^.^'

Inifinty- Thanks! Really? The Innocence was originally for a different OC, but that particular person belonged to a friend. She let me use the Innocence, though. ^^ It was either this or a parasite type whose attacks I couldn't think of, so I chose something I did know. :D

FireyFlames- Thanks!

Once again, DISCLAIMER TIME!!!!!

**Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-Man, just my OC Aislin and Lucius. **

**Chapter 1: Lucius**

It's not like anyone ever noticed the card dealer that always appeared at the corner of the street at 10 am sharp. They noticed but never said anything. The only ones who talked to him were the ones who wanted information.

Lucius had plenty of it.

The price was simple. You either played a game of poker and won, or you had to pay at two dollars for every category you wanted. Easy enough? The price wasn't so easy to pay sometimes. Everyone who thought they could beat the young card dealer in poker ended up face-first in the streets. Lucius stood grinning over his most recent victim, his hands busy shuffling the cards.

"You didn't win as easily as you thought, huh?" Lucius said with a sneer. The man stood up and scowled.

"You little brat!" He lunged at Lucius. The young man sighed and stepped to the side, at the same time bringing up his knee. The man fell again, clutching his stomach. Lucius shrugged and walked off.

Allen couldn't believe it. Whatever that street vendor had told him and Lavi was pretty much true. Yes, Lucius was violent; yes, Lucius did play card games for payment; yes, Lucius made people pay before giving them information; yes, Lucius was a bit mean. Next to him, the redhead Bookman stared, eyes wide.

"That kid is vicious," Lavi said after a while.

"Yeah…" Allen agreed. If the black-haired male standing on the street corner thought he could beat Allen, he was wrong. Allen was the best poker player there was, and he wasn't about to lose to a kid a year younger than he was. "Well, we do need to find out where the Innocence is. Come on, Lavi."

"What?! We're paying the kid to give us what we already…kind of… sort of… know already?" Komui hadn't been very clear. He said that there may have been an Innocence somewhere in Dublin. The Finders believed that there was perhaps an accommodator because all of the Akuma that had attacked Dublin were destroyed by a hooded person in black. Before the Finders tried to do anything, the hooded person ran away. The form the Innocence had taken was strange, the Finders later said. They were large cards.

Allen walked up to Lucius, a smile on his face. Lucius was frowning, as if he had to be somewhere, but Allen's coming here disturbed it. Before the white-haired exorcist could say anything, Lucius sighed and said, "Let me guess. You want information and you're going to play me a game."

"How'd you know?" Lavi asked, dumbfounded.

"I saw you two over there discussing something for a while, looking my way. So? You up to it?" Lucius was still shuffling the cards.

"I'll play against you," Allen said. He agreed automatically.

Ten minutes later, Lavi was ready to throw a fit, but shock kept him from doing anything. Allen, losing? Was that even possible? After the train ride so many months ago when Allen had played against Tyki Mikk and his friends and cruelly beat them all, he didn't even know it was _possible_ for Allen to _lose_. It was happening right now, though, which was why Lavi wanted to throw a fit and why he didn't.

Allen kept his face straight, even though inside he was just as shocked and probably very mad at Lucius. Lucius had to be cheating, at least. Even when Allen carefully watched him, he did nothing that indicated he was cheating. So why did he get all the good cards and Allen all the crappy ones? Lucius laughed.

"You're crushed," he said. "Just give it up."

"Not until I get what I need," Allen replied. Lucius shrugged.

"Look, this is getting boring, actually." Lucius swept up the cards and put them in his coat pocket. He started to walk away, but Allen grabbed his shoulder. He was turned around to face him. "Okay. Fine. What is so burningly important that you need to grab me for?"

"Recently, there's been something called 'Akuma' attacking Dublin," Allen started.

"Akuma, the creation of a soul, a machine, and a tragedy." Lucius recited it like it was nothing but a rhyme. Ignoring him, Allen continued.

" We've heard that every single Akuma has been destroyed by a person in black."

Lucius thought deeply for a second, then smiled. "Why should I tell you? There's nothing for me."

Lavi stepped forward. He pointed to the Rose Cross that gleamed on his chest. "We're part of the Black Order."

"Oh. _Oh. _That changes things a bit." Lucius crossed his arms and leaned back. "Hm… Then I guess I should tell you, but… I kind of don't. What to do, what to do."

"Just tell us!" Allen said. "Give us a name of a person to talk to, a place to go, just something!"

"Okay!" Lucius jumped up and pointed down the street the exorcists had come from. "Back over that way is a theatre. There's a young dancer employed by that theatre. Hart, I believe her last name was. Just ask for her and she should know something. Just in case there's two girls with the last name of Hart, the one you're looking for has waist-length black hair and blue-green eyes."

His own blue-green eyes glittered. Allen nodded. "Thanks."

"Hey, no problem. That's what I work for."

As they walked away, Lucius frowned to himself. Once again he crossed his arms, but he no longer looked smug. He looked confused. "Exorcists, huh? Well, my plans of hiding have been slightly… ruined."

* * *

It's now almost 9 PM. :D I'm tired as heck and want to sleep... *Yawn* So, anyone confused? Yes? Good! This first chapter with Lucius is supposed to be confusing until later, when Allen and Lavi understand what's going on! Yep!

Read and review, please!


	3. The Dancer

ON A FREAKIN' ROLL! XD No, I'm not normally this hyper and for fanfictions on dA, I normally don't update this fast, but I'm on a roll! I'm writing my story (the one I want published~) and fixing some things. I'm freakin' unstoppable! Until Tuesday comes back around… But that's not for another few days!

FireyFlames: … SHHHHHH. It's a secret~ My friend says I type fast with just three of four fingers. I tell her it's not that hard.

Infinity: I'll write as quickly as I can, I promise. Just one month until summer break! Ahaha, I understand. I kind of suck at giving people reviews because it's a bit hard for me to organize my thoughts while I'm thinking of several other things. I multi-task a bit too much.

And with that… DISCLAIMER TIME! AGAIN! :D

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own D. Gray-Man (which belongs to Hoshino-sensei), just Aislin. **

**Chapter 2: The Dancer**

Lavi and Allen found the theatre with little problem. A sign said that there would be a performance tonight. Komui didn't exactly say when to bring back the Innocence (although they were sure it should be ASAP, before any Noah found it), and they didn't have anything to do, so they bought two tickets just for the heck of it.

Finding the dancers was a bit of a problem. The actors were rehearsing for the play and they wouldn't tell where the dancers normally were. Lavi found one of the actresses pretty, so he agreed to stay in the house while Allen looked around. Muttering, Allen walked away.

A lithe girl soon ran right past him. She had her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Ah, wait!" Allen called, chasing after her. The girl stopped.

"Yes? Make it quick, I have to be at the rehearsal soon," she snapped. Allen was slightly taken aback. He had only said wait.

"Is there a girl at this theatre with the last name of Hart?" he asked.

"There's two. Do you know which one you're looking for?" The girl seemed very impatient and tapped her foot.

"She has black hair and blue-green eyes-"

"Oh, _her,_" the girl scoffed. "No one ever wants to visit her. Why do you need to see her?"

_And I still don't know her first name_, Allen thought. "She may know something that I need to know."

"Fine. Whatever she knows that you need to know is beyond me. Aislin hasn't been back in a few hours. She'll be in tonight's play, though, so maybe you can talk to her before or after then." The girl ran off. Allen stood there, completely confused. Was there even a time when he could try to speak to this Aislin? Lucius hadn't told him that she would randomly vanish. He could only wait until tonight to see.

* * *

"Gah, my eye hurts," Allen complained. His left eye was acting up a bit, and it was all he could do to not make it activate while they were packed between so many people.

"Maybe there's an Akuma nearby," suggested Lavi.

"No, really?" he said sarcastically. He shut up when the play started. Some of the songs were in Gaelic. Since there was no translator, the exorcists had to sit there and hope English would soon be spoken again. As soon as the dancers came on, Allen knew which one they were looking for. A single girl at the very end of the right line was dancing, looking very unsure of herself. The short white dress made her skin look paler and her hair much darker than it was. From this distance, he couldn't see her eyes, but he was sure that Aislin was that one girl. As soon as the dance was finished, she exited the stage.

Half way through the show, a lady's scream was suddenly heard off-stage. The actors currently reciting lines didn't look, but the ones who were standing there and waiting for their parts did. An actor close to the curtain slipped off-stage to check. He didn't come back. Some of the dancers ran on stage screaming. The audience stirred uncertainly. It was only until there was an explosion backstage did they come to life. Many of them didn't care about what happened to the others; they just climbed over everyone else to escape. An Akuma drifted from the backstage towards the dancers. Lavi swore and tried to climb over the seats, but it was still mass hysteria. Until there were less people, he could only cling to the seats and hope he wasn't swept away by the crowd. Allen had to do the same. His cursed eye activated.

"Akuma!" yelled a girl off stage. "Come here!"

It turned just a bit, but ignored the girl and focused on the defenseless dancers.

That was, until the same voice yelled out, "Full house! Trap!"

Nothing had happened. Out of the corner of his eye, Allen saw a faint glimmer. A cube-shaped box surrounded the Akuma. It screeched and threw itself against the barrier, trying to break it. A hooded figure in black stepped out onto the stage. The accommodator. From the small form and the voice from earlier, the accommodator was a girl. The stream of people had lessened. Allen jumped over the seats to reach the stage.

"Crown Clown, activate!" he yelled over the dancers' hysterical sobbing. The girl turned her head in his direction briefly before making a sweeping motion with her hands. Cards flew into her hand, and she stood shuffling them in a very familiar way. Allen couldn't quite place where he had seen the same kind of shuffling. She wasn't moving, so Allen leaped at the Akuma and slashed at it. It exploded.

"It's getting worse," he heard the girl mutter.

"What?" he asked in confusion. She took a step like she was going to help the dancers, but then turned and fled. "Hey, wait!"

He ran after her, yelling over his shoulder, "Lavi, make sure they're okay!"

He heard Lavi's response only barely. The girl was already slipping away. She must've worked at this theatre because she took all of these paths that Allen had a hard time navigating through. He heard a door slam to his right. He found the door easily enough and pushed it open. His eye went crazy. There were at least ten Akuma around the theatre, and so many more coming.

"Damn!" Allen muttered. A fight could be heard in an alley off to the side. Suddenly the girl appeared again, slowly walking backwards. She was breathing heavily. Before anyone moved, a level two Akuma grabbed her.

"Let go!" she screamed, kicking at the Akuma.

"Can't," said the Akuma with a grin.

"Four of a-OW!" The girl thrashed when some kind of sharp vine wrapped around her leg. A plant-like level two came up. "Ow! Stop it!"

"Let go of her!" Allen yelled. He grabbed his left wrist, turning it into the sword. He stabbed the Akuma holding the accommodator, then turned to the plant like one. By the time he focused on that one, several more vines were already wrapped around her legs and arms.

"You're not doing anything!" she yelled at Allen. "Three of a kind! Cutting wind!"

Three cards that had been scattered on the floor rose up and broke into tiny pieces. The small shreds acted like tiny blades that ripped the Akuma apart. The girl dropped to the floor, muttering a string of curses in Gaelic. Allen knelt next to her.

"You don't need to get so mad. I was trying my best." The girl had no response. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. My legs hurt, though. If that Akuma could inject its blood into me by the vines, why aren't I dead?" she wondered. Allen helped her up. She suddenly whipped around and pointed. "Watch out!"

Several level one Akuma shot at them. The girl screamed and looked for something to hide behind. Nothing. The cards moved again, this time forming a barrier around the two. The impact of the blood bullets hitting the cards brought a strong wind that blew off the girl's hood.

Allen found exactly who he was looking for.

* * *

Aislin didn't care that the hood had fallen off. She was more concerned about getting out alive. That, and she was wishing that the Black Order exorcist hadn't come at all. He was pretty strong, she was sure, but there were so many Akuma…

"Gouka Kaijin! Hiban!" yelled a redhead kid who had just found his way out. Flames engulfed a lot of Akuma, allowing the boy with strange white hair to get rid of the rest. Aislin stared at the two exorcists. She honest to God did not want to be here right now. Anything to escape what she knew was coming.

"You okay?" asked the redhead. She nodded numbly. "I'm Lavi. You're Aislin, right?"

She didn't even ask how he knew her name. She knew how. "Aislin Hart."

"I'm Allen Walker," said the white-haired exorcist cheerfully. "Nice to meet you."

"Um… Me too." She was trying to remember how well she could speak English. She hadn't spoken it almost five years, save for a few English phrases. Gaelic got her to where she needed to go easily. Allen noticed and smiled.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be fine," he said. She mentally smacked herself. What in the world was he talking about? Her difficulty in speaking English or the fact she was about to be dragged off to the Black Order?

"Are you from the Black Order?" she asked, feigning ignorance. Allen nodded.

"Yes."

"Come on, join us!" Lavi jumped into the conversation with little difficulty. There was a giant grin on his face. Aislin found it a bit hard to say no to him, but only because he seemed like such a likeable guy.

"I guess so," Aislin said slowly. She was considering the idea of joining. It would be safer, for one. "Tell me… is there a possibility that I'll be able to find my friends if I join?"

Allen shrugged. "Who knows? I'm sure you will. It's not impossible!"

Aislin nodded. "I understand. Where exactly is this Black Order, then?"

The disappointment and fear showed clearly on her face. She would join, if only to find her friends. _Ophelia... Lucian... Where could you possibly be?_

* * *

Sorry. The beginning may have been a bit lame. Also, does anyone know if the sword has a name? I mean, yes, I know it's Crown Clown, technically, but um... Yeah. I don't know. I've even been reading it D. Gray-Man in Japanese (I do read Japanese) and still have no idea of its name.


	4. The Dancer's Secret

If I said I was about to bash my head into the wall, would something be wrong with me? I am kind of ready to do that… STUPID ENGLISH RESEARCH PAPER!!!

…Ahem. Sorry. I'm just kind of mad at homework in general this weekend. Geometry is unnecessarily cruel and out to kill me. I swear to you. If it were real, it'd have already killed me.

Tsukiko Yamshita: :D Thanks! I'll update as quickly as I can. I like your username, by the way. :D And yeah, I figured. I was just kind of like, "Does this sword even have a name…?" I should've asked my friend (she's an expert), but I'm an idiot and forgot. XD

Infinity: I really don't know if it even has a name. XD I love her Innocence too. If I had drawing skills worth anything, I'd draw it and post a picture... But I lack drawing skills.

FireyFlames: Bow to my amazingness! Nah, I'm kidding. I love it when stories I'm reading update fast.

Glon Morski: Alrighty. I get the name thing. I just had no idea. ^.^' Thanks for all of that. Really! I'll be sure to keep it in mind. :D I'll go over what Lavi said when I get the chance. I really suck at battle scenes, so don't expect them to be all 'I'm going to kick your butt!' kind of thing. I'm trying my best. Oh, trust me, from now on, Allen's not going to lose in poker. There's a reason why he lost.

You know what's coming up~

**Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man, just Aislin. **

**Chapter 3: The Dancer's Secret**

A week had passed since Aislin joined the Order. She was extremely jumpy despite the many reassurances she was safe. For whatever reason, she believed someone was trying to kill her. Komui just said it was probably a case of paranoia and it would go quickly. Considering how she didn't calm down in the first week, Kanda _was_ about to kill her. That just made her worry about more things. Lenalee scolded Kanda for being so mean to the new exorcist. Aislin was obviously worried and scared of her new environment. "Just give her a few days."

That's what Komui said. It's what Lenalee said. Kanda just had to wait (not patiently. Kanda couldn't do that) until the Irish girl calmed down. Great. He could totally wait.

Allen, however, was much more helpful to Aislin than Kanda. He showed her around and made sure she felt welcome. "After all, we're kind of like a big family here," he had explained. She had noticed the half-smile on his face. Sad and happy at the same time.

"Something I haven't had in a while…" Aislin said softly. He couldn't hear what she said, and when he asked her to repeat it, she shook her head, a small smile on her face, saying it was nothing.

Allen was slightly cross because of the fact that he had to finish writing a report of the mission and he was much too tired to even concentrate on it. Lavi, who had been helping him until an hour earlier, was asleep, mouth lopsided. Allen dragged all the papers out from underneath Lavi without waking him up. Said papers were now all scattered around the desk. Some even lay on the floor. The entire study was a bit messy, but at that moment, he just didn't care.

A door slammed behind them. Lavi jerked awake. He rubbed his eyes and stared sleepily at Allen. "You done?"

"No," replied Allen a bit tensely. He took the papers and dropped them in front of Lavi. The pile made a large _thud!_ when it hit the wood. "I'm tired."

Bookman Jr. looked a bit crestfallen. "WHAAAT? I have to finish it?"

"You found enough time to sleep, so obviously you're done with your stuff."

"No, I'm-" Lavi stopped halfway through his sentence and looked up. His eyes went wide.

"Um… Lavi, Allen, do you need any-" The speaker was speaking in a low voice. They probably thought the two were asleep.

"You!"

He literally climbed over the desk and tackled the speaker, who shouted and tried to crawl away. Allen turned in his seat. His jaw dropped. It was Lucius that Lavi had tackled.

"How'd you get in?" Lavi demanded. Lucius squirmed and looked over at Allen, eyes pleading for help.

"Just because my hair is cut does not mean you can tackle me!"

"How'd you- What?" Lavi stared in disbelief.

"Wait… Aislin?" Allen said. Lucius- Aislin- nodded.

"Yes. Could you please get off of me?" she said, irritated. Lavi moved to the side, allowing her to sit up. Now Allen saw it was Aislin. She had cut her hair to about chin-length. Now Allen saw why Lavi had mistaken Aislin for Lucius. Lucius's hair had been the same length. The two had the exact same blue-gray eyes and general build. "Sorry for the scare."

"Aislin, you do know you look like Lucius, right?"

She nodded again and shrugged. With the black long-sleeved shirt and slightly baggy pants she had on, she did look a bit like a boy. Then she grinned and held up her hands. "You hadn't noticed?" she asked. When she got no response from the boys, she took out the deck of cards from a front pocket and shuffled them. "Come now. If it helps, a wig was used."

Allen gasped and pointed. "You were Lucius the entire time?!"

Her smile grew wider. "Yes!"

"You beat me in poker! That's not fair!"

"Yeah!" Lavi added. "Allen never loses! How did you beat him?"

Aislin took one of the cards from her deck and held it out. It was a King of hearts. She gave it to Lavi first. "Feels normal, yes?"

Lavi didn't say anything. Aislin then took it and reached to give it to Allen. Right away, Allen noticed that there seemed to be a very thin edge of paper around a harder, more card-like area.

"Actually, no," Allen said. "There's some kind of covering over it."

"Exactly." Aislin took the card back and handled it like it was some precious memory. "Lucian, a very old friend of mine, made the coverings for me. He said the odd appearance of the deck would call...um... What's the word? Not wanted attention to me. Since he left for whatever reason, I have kept the covers on."

She bit a corner of the card and jerked it away from her. It ripped effortlessly. She tipped it upside down and a card slide out. The back was decorated with a green cross on a red moon. Several vines bordered it. She flipped it around and showed Allen. He looked at it closely.

"That's the form your Innocence takes?" Of course it took the form of cards, but he was just making sure. Then he wondered why this form hadn't been revealed when she had fought with them. His question was answered when Lavi took the covering to mess with Aislin. She grabbed it from him and pulled. It stretched pretty far before Lavi let go and it snapped back, almost hitting Aislin in the face. She let go of it and it hit the wall.

"That thing is stretchy," Lavi commented. "This Lucian person must've been a scientist."

"He was... I think," Aislin said. "He loved experimenting."

"What other suits are there?" Allen asked.

The two ignored Lavi's confused look. Aislin tapped the card that now lay on the floor. "Red crosses," she said, "to take the place of the hearts."

She took out three more cards and ripped the coverings off. She pulled out the three. "Black roses to take the place of the spades. Black crescent moons to take the place of the diamonds. And… I'm trying to figure out what this is."

Allen took the last card from her. It looked a bit like a drop of blood because of the red color, but it could've been a tear drop or a drop of rain or anything tear-shaped.

"Would it be morbid if I said it looked like blood?" he asked, joking. She laughed.

"It is probably blood," she agreed. "Or… a tear stained red. I don't know."

"Maybe you'll find out soon."

"So…" Aislin said with a sheepish grin, "that poker game, I did kind of… cheat."

"That's not fair!" Allen whined. "It's because the cards were your Innocence and they were listening to you!"

She merely smiled in response. Allen whined and complained. While Aislin continued to tease Allen for losing (which he swore he was never going to do again because it brought back too many unpleasent memories), Lavi sat, deep in thought. He was considering what Allen just said. The cards listened to her. He still wasn't too sure of what happened before he ran out of the theatre. According to Allen, the cards had moved to protect them even though Aislin hadn't said or done anything. It couldn't be a crystal-type, though. That would be near impossible. Only Lenalee had a crystal-type Innocence. The test done by Hevlaska when Aislin had first arrived confirmed that the cards were only an equipment-type.

"Lavi?" He shook his head and smiled at Aislin. "What are you thinking about?"

"It's nothing," he said. Allen stood up and stretched.

"I'm exhausted. Good night!" he said, walking out of the room. Lavi followed Allen out of the room after saying the same to Aislin. She lay back, staring at the ceiling. The cards lay around her. She would have to remove the coverings tomorrow. One hand rested on a Joker card. Instead of the regular joker on most other decks, it was a clown, one half white and crying, the other half black and smiling. The black side had what appeared to be blood on its face.

"…Why me?" she whispered to herself. "An exorcist, chosen by God…"

She laughed a bit, the kind smile she had put on her face turning to an empty one.

"Fate can be cruel to the most unfortunate people…"

* * *

I've noticed I've done it several times and I've always caught myself, but if you happen to see that I spelled Aislin's name 'Aisling', tell me. Aislin is a variant of Aisling, so I keep adding the G to the end by mistake.

Yeah... Um... Not too sure what to say besides the fact that I want sleep. Hopefully this chapter will keep you interested! I love the reviews! Thanks so much to everyone who does! It makes me feel better.


	5. A New Foe

NOOO! They ruined it, they ruined it! *hysterical laughter and sobs at the same time* I was watching the English dub for D. Gray-Man, and seriously, the only thing I've got to say is, WHY DOES EVERYONE BUT LENALEE AND KOMUI SOUND RETORDED?

Retorded is a word Cafana and I came up with. It means 'retarded'. Kanda sounds old, Allen sounds okay but his voice would've done better for Lavi (even though I haven't heard Lavi yet), Reever sounds odd. Meh. MEH. The two lines I liked were from Komui and Allen. One was Allen talking to the cat saying, "This is all your fault!" (because he sounded like how I thought he'd sound for all of two seconds) and Komui saying, "Someone go and push the kid off" when Allen was walking towards the HQ.

That's kind of why I'm laughing and crying right now. I didn't go past episode 4, but I want to see what Miranda and Lavi sound like.

Sorry I haven't updated in all of forever (when it's probably been four or five days), but school is bleh. I'm currently studying for geometry....

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own D. Gray-Man, just Aislin. :D**

**Chapter 4:**

"Did Aislin lose her way here or something?" Lavi asked during breakfast. He, Allen, and Lenalee had just sat down to eat. Besides the fact that Kanda was sitting somewhere else or probably training (which wasn't unusual for him), Lavi did kind of expect the young girl to be there. Lenalee smiled suddenly.

"Good morning, Aislin," she said. The two guys turned in their seats.

"You, uh, look nice," Allen said. Aislin smiled and moved the hair from her face.

"Really…? Thanks," she said softly.

"You're so cute!" Lavi said, glomping the girl. She almost fell over. "But what took so long to get your outfit?"

"I kept changing the length of the jacket at the last minute," Aislin explained. She stepped back from them. "Do you really like it…?"

The Order's typical black and red uniform seemed a bit big on her, but maybe that was just because she was small. The jacket went down to her knees, and the collar wasn't very big. The sleeves were form-fitting. Black boots zipped all the way up to her knees.

"Yeah," Allen said. "You hungry?"

"Yes," she said. Within a few minutes, she was sitting next to Lenalee. A few minutes in, Allen noticed she hadn't really touched her food.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked her quietly while Lavi and Lenalee were talking.

"Just a bit," Aislin admitted. "It's really nothing, Allen. It's just… I get the feeling I'm going to have some encounter with my past pretty soon."

Allen smiled encouragingly and continued to eat his food. He really didn't like his past either. The only part that seemed enjoyable were the years he spent with Mana. The following years with Cross after Mana's death… He didn't even want to think about. Too much trauma in those years. But here, at the Order, the year that had been spent here was good. Everyone was like family. Well, everybody except Leverrier, whom he hated.

Aislin almost fell asleep at the table. Lavi reached across to poke her awake. She jerked awake and rubbed her eyes.

"Ah, sorry," she muttered. "I didn't get much sleep last night…"

Reever came in, looking for Allen and Aislin in particular. When he spotted them, he walked over to them. "Allen, Aislin, Komui has a new mission for you."

"See you later," Allen said to Lavi and Lenalee. They waved as Allen and Aislin followed Reever. Allen had taken some mitarashi dango to eat while walking. Mouth stuffed, he asked, "What's this mission about?"

"An Innocence has been found in France. It hasn't found an accommodator, though, so we're trying as hard as we can to get it," Reever said. He stopped when they were outside of Komui's room. "Komui will tell you the rest."

"Allen! Aislin!" Komui said. There was a cup of coffee in his hand. He took a sip before pointing at a large map behind his desk. "The Innocence is in Paris. It hasn't found an accommodator, which Reever did tell you, I'm sure. The reason why we're all panicking and rushing to get this Innocence is because almost every Finder we've sent has been killed. One lived long enough to tell us that there was Noah there."

"Okay, can I ask why the Noah is there?" Aislin asked. She had been told of the Noah and their abilities. That may have been why she had been paranoid when she first joined, but the paranoia was almost gone.

"The Noah can destroy Innocence," Allen reminded her. He stared at the files in his hand. "How many Noah?"

"It sounded like two," Komui replied.

"Tyki and Road?"

"No. They aren't Noah we've encountered before."

Allen groaned. Exactly what he needed. What a perfect way to start the morning. Two unknown Noah with unknown abilities, and they weren't Tyki or Road. Sure, Road or Tyki he could probably handle. The unknown, maybe not.

"Do we at least have some kind of general understanding of their talents?" he asked desperately.

Komui shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. The Finder didn't live long enough to tell us."

Allen scowled. Yep, what a great way to start the morning.

* * *

_At first, Aislin didn't know where she was. The light was too bright at first, but it dimmed. She was up against the wall. Blood was seeping through her clothes and it felt wet on her hand. One hand reached up to touched her head, but hit something near her neck. She looked down and screamed. _

_A sword was the only thing keeping her to the wall. It was pierced through her neck, but her head wasn't falling off like she expected it to. Instead, it seemed to be the center of the pain she was experiencing. It felt like burning fire. A sudden hate flared up against the sword. Was it her own hate? Did she really want to rip the sword out of her neck? Yes, she did, just to stop the pain! It wouldn't budge no matter how hard Aislin tried to rip it out. _Stop…_ she thought weakly. _Who could have done this?

_Then a cold and familiar voice answered in her ear, "Only me, Aislin."_

Aislin woke up screaming. The screaming turned into sobs. She felt someone's hands around her and Allen asking, "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," she said when she managed to control herself. What a horrible nightmare. It wasn't real. It would never happen. That familiar voice… She had to will herself to shut up and not disturb anyone else on the train. Allen kept his arms around her until she calmed down considerably. There were tears still streaming down her face, but her frame-wracking sobs were almost gone. Allen didn't ask her what the dream was about because he didn't want her to become a wreck again.

"Allen…" she finally muttered. He released her and looked down at her.

"Yes?"

"I know this is probably…insensitive?" Allen smiled just a bit. Aislin still didn't understand English well enough, but she was getting there. "But would you tell me why you joined the Order?"

Allen did accept the fact that when people asked about why he joined, he'd have to say something about Mana. "I turned Mana, my adopted father, into an Akuma. Becoming an exorcist seemed to be the way to make it up to him. What about you?" He decided to keep it away form himself. Aislin didn't have to know about the 14th, at least not yet.

"I haven't said because it's weird," Aislin said, looking away. A ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "Except I did tell you, didn't I? When Lavi and you found me. I'm looking for my friends. They're almost like family to me… Older siblings. They left when I was ten for no reason."

"Is Lucian one of them?" Allen asked softly. Aislin nodded.

"My 'older brother'." Her hand went to her pocket. "And the one who gave me the cards-um… Innocence."

"I see." Allen looked away briefly, then said, "Want to play some poker to pass the time?"

Aislin sat up, grinning. Any trace of her breakdown was gone. "You are on."

"I'm not losing, by the way," Allen teased before taking out his own deck of cards. "And we're not using yours. A normal deck will do."

"Wait… We're playing normal poker, right?" she said uncertainly.

"Of course!"

_Good, because if you had said we're playing strip poker, I would've slapped you_, Aislin thought. Allen was a gentleman, and that reassured her. At least there were some decent guys left.

The first game Allen had played with Aislin was never counted because she had been using Innocence. In the hour that they had left on the train, Allen beat Aislin so much that she stopped counting at fifty. She won probably one game out of one hundred something. He was at least glad that she seemed to have forgotten anything about the nightmare she had. Still, Allen couldn't help but wonder what it was about.

Aislin stretched when they stepped off the train. She wasn't too keen on being in France. She'd much rather go back to Dublin where people ignored her than to France. Allen took a glance at the file again. Before he tried to find the Innocence, he wanted sleep. They found a hotel they could stay at. Aislin went to sleep almost immediately. Allen stayed awake, staring at the starry sky outside the window. His exhaustion soon became hard to ignore and he fell asleep.

* * *

"Kyaaa~" sighed a girl with spiky black hair. She kicked her feet like a child, staring at the lights of Paris from the rooftop she was sitting on. "I'm so happy I could come!"

"I'm happy you came," said the woman next to her. Her dark hair fell down to her waist in ringlets. Like the girl, her eyes were a golden and her skin a gray tone. On both of their foreheads were seven cross-shaped scars.

"Now's not the time to get sappy," snapped the only man there. He had the same dark hair, golden eyes, and gray skin tone. He flipped the switchblade in his hand up and down in an almost hypnotizing rhythm. "Yes, Road, we're so glad that Earl-sama allowed you to come, but we have to remain serious. We're simply toying with the Order. We want them to send exorcists. Two birds, one stone."

"That didn't work before and won't work again," said the woman. She stood up, her black dress making a slight movement as the wind caught it. "Honestly, Luce, if I didn't know better, I'd say you follow those silly proverbs all the time."

"Lili, that's so mean," said the man, pretending to be hurt. Road stood up, skipped over to him, and then smacked him on the head.

"And you're telling me to be serious?" she teased. She ignored the pink umbrella zooming around their heads in a panic. "Come on, Nii-chan. You're so hypocritical."

"She's got a point," said the woman.

"Guys, come on!" the man whined. "I'm your older brother. Treat me nicely."

"Whatever you say, 'Nii-chan'," Road said sarcastically. She was the first child, after all. "Let's just find the Innocence and destroy it. Screw the 'two birds, one stone' thing."

* * *

Surprise! New Noah! I just hope this pleased you enough so that you won't kill me from being so slow. . I'm really sorry about the slowness! Really sorry!


	6. The Noah Siblings

OH MY GOSH GUYS I'M SO SORRY!!!!!! School attacked me and I was bogged down with all of these projects, and I just now have the time to update!!! I'M SORRY!!!

*Sniff* I feel like I let you all down. Sorry again! *goes off into random Japanese rant*

Anyway, ignoring my breakdown, here's the next chapter!

* * *

Aislin and Allen wandered around the city for the better part of a day. No one seemed willing to speak to the two exorcists. After a while, Aislin started to believe it was because of Allen's white hair. So she told him.

"It is not!" Allen protested.

"_T__á_."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"And what makes you think that? And what's with the random Irish?!"

"I'm sure that everyone that's sixteen has white hair," Aislin said, her voice dripping sarcasm. Allen frowned. "_Tá _means 'it is'."

Quickly the argument was forgotten as they tried to find out where the Innocence was. Everybody was looking at them funny. Both of them were starving (they kept forgetting to eat) and just wanted to get the mission over with. Allen plopped down onto a bench and watched Aislin try to find someone who would talk to her.

An hour later, nothing. Aislin stomped back and sat down next to Allen. "_Francach!_" she muttered, almost like it was a curse.

"What did you say?"? Allen asked. That just went over his head.

"I said French," she explained. "Sorry. They're just… stupid!"

"Don't let them hear you say that," Allen said with an amused grin. She shot him a glare.

"Is Komui absolutely sure there's an Innocence?" she asked. "Did he tell us where?"

"Erm…"

In truth, Komui was kind of running around in circles when he told them. According to him, there was an Innocence, and it was probably stuck in some kind of statue. They got that much. However, this statue was always switching locations. Eventually they just stuck it in a museum and left it on display. But then, after a while, something bad would happen to the curator, then the statue would be moved again. Something horrible would happen at the museum, and it would be moved again. It soon found its way to a church, of all places, and nothing seemed to have happened yet. Well, besides the Finders' deaths, of course.

The reason why they were having such problems finding the church was because they were looking for the statue. And it seemed as though the French people were particularly picky with how things were pronounced. Allen tried, and he was somewhat close, but the woman he asked was stuck-up and walked away. After that, Allen's pronunciation seemed to go downhill. Aislin quit after that hour she spent asking for it. Her Irish accent was too obvious, and it kept getting in the way of her pronouncing the French names.

"This is horrible!" Aisin exclaimed in exasperation. "Allen, say the name one more time. Maybe you can get it."

Allen groaned and tried one more time. Aislin clapped.

"Sounds close enough. Maybe we can find someone who isn't so stuck-up?"

"Good luck," Allen said. Aislin ignored him and grabbed his arm, running up to a small shop. "Now talk."

"What am I, a puppet?"

She glared.

"Ok, fine! Excuse me," Allen said. The store owner turned around. Allen repeated the statue's name, and the owner nodded. In broken English, he explained to them where the church was and how to get there. Allen smiled in relief. "Thank you!"

The two exorcists ran off. A young blonde woman stared after them for a few second before entering the shop. Leaning across the counter, she asked, "Did you tell them correctly, Akuma?"

"Yes, Miss," said the store owner. The woman smiled.

"Good!" She nodded. She went back outside to join the girl that was with her. "Well, Road, it seems as though you can finally show me what this Walker child can do, right?"

"Yep!" Road agreed. "Ophelia, what are you going to do when you find that girl?"

Ophelia was quiet for a few seconds, then she said, "I'll let Lucian handle it."

* * *

"Finally!" Allen said when they found the church. "But where's the statue?"

"If the man was correct, it should be somewhere outside," Aislin said, looking around.

"There happens to be a lot of statues."

"Well, you look."

"What?!"

That wasn't necessary. At that moment, a little girl screamed. "Akuma," the two said at the same time. It was only a level one, and they took it out, no problem.

"Wonderful show, exorcists." A tall male, perhaps twenty-three or twenty-four, was standing behind them, clapping. His black hair was neatly trimmed, and his blue-gray eyes were laughing. "I hope you know that he was just a ploy, that Akuma."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Allen asked, a bit uneasy.

"Luce, don't tease them," said a lady, walking up to him. Behind her was a girl that Allen recognized right away.

"Road!"

She waved. "Hey, Allen! Miss me?"

"No," he said bluntly. The man sighed and took out a switchblade, flipping out he blade like it was no big deal.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?" he said. "Hello, exorcists, I'm one of your new worst nightmares."

"Luce!" the woman said. She turned and smiled at Aislin, who hadn't moved at all. Aislin's eyes were wide with shock. "What's wrong, Aislin dear? You're not seeing a ghost. It is me."

"You know them?" Allen asked.

Aislin barely managed a nodded. "Ophelia… and Lucian…"

* * *

WAAAH. I still feel a bit bad. Sorry this chapter's so short; it's just to show you guys I'm not dead yet! I'm having some kidn of writer's block right now thats refusing to leave me alone. Oh, as for the Irish, I looked it up in the Irish book I have right next to me.


End file.
